Army to arrive for search operations to trace Arjun from landslip site at Ankola

BENGALURU: The army will arrive today to find Arjun (30), the driver who went missing with the lorry following a massive landslide on the national highway at Shirur in Ankola. A 40-member team from Belagavi will reach for the rescue operations. Arjun’s family had sent an e-mail to the Prime Minister seeking deployment of army to find Arjun.

The work will continue to remove soil from the area where the metal part was visible on the radar. Meantime, heavy rains are delaying the start of the rescue operations. There were heavy rains in Shirur last night. Reports said Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to visit the accident site today.

Efforts were intensified yesterday to find Arjun of Kakkodi Kannadikkal Mooladikuzhiyil in Kozhikode, but it did not yield any results. It was hinted that Arjun is nine feet deep last night. The rescue mission became active after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah started assessing the situation directly.

The search was hampered by the heavy rain while removing the soil last evening. The weather was clear in the morning but it started raining in the afternoon. Radar testing was interrupted due to rain. Only 4 to 5 meters underground can be seen on the radar. The expert team of NIT said the visual is not clear on the radar as it is covered with mud after the heavy rains.

It was stated earlier that a part of the vehicle was found, but later said that it is not true. The navy, which conducted the search, asserted that the truck Arjun was driving did not fall into the river.